Monday, 28 April 2014

This week's prompt comes fom the archives of The Library of Congress courtesy of Flickr Commons, where the subjects are taking part in what is described as a 'Greek Cymball Dance’ at a Sufragette Ball. Now, you may wish to hang on to that description as a possible avenue to explore if inspiration deserts you. Otherwise we have May Day, dancing, folk traditions or very silly poses; take your pick or forget about themes altogether. The main thing is to join in with an old image of your own choice and an interesting post to share with fellow Sepians. Post it on or before Saturday 3rd May, with a link back here to Sepia Saturday please (or add the mini banner below if your prefer), then leave a comment with our friend Mr Linky below. We’re big on tradition here at Sepia Saturday, and one of those is to visit fellow Sepians and leave encouraging comments on their posts, it cheers us up no end.

Alan will be back at the helm next week, but for those who like thinking time (or time to rummage through the Sepia Shoebox) here are the next two prompts. Have fun.

Monday, 21 April 2014

Ah, I remember it well. Get out your smart threads, polish up your brogues, stand around that imposing jukebox and spin those old favourites : "Summer Holiday", "V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N", or maybe "Viva Espana". Yes, it can only mean one thing : I am about to go on holiday again. But, worry not, who is looking after things whilst I am away but my fellow administrator - Marilyn. And the theme image Marilyn has chosen for Sepia Saturday 225 (post your posts on or around Saturday 26 April 2014) shows a group of smart young things stood around a jukebox. If you are theming this week there are endless possibilities - jukeboxes, music, the 1950s are just a few suggestions. All you have to do is to post your post, link your link, and visit your sepia friends. Easy-peasy ...... itsy-bitsy, yellow polka-dot bikini (control yourself, Alan) But before you pack your bag and fly off to Spain (oh, no, that's me isn't it!), here is a preview of what is in store over the next week or two.

Sepia Saturday 226 : 3 May 2014

After several changes due to sepia confusion, we are left with May Day, Dancing, Folk Traditions and Very Silly Poses

Sepia Saturday 227 : 10 May 2014

Alphabets, sisters, wicker/garden furniture, creepers(!)

But that is all for the future. This week we are turning the clock back to the 1950s. Insert your coin, choose your record, press that sepia button and get posting. Now, where was I? Oh I know "Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again ...."

Tuesday, 15 April 2014

The other week I made a confession about my aversion to gardening and all things horticultural and I was challenged to include a possible gardening theme for a future Sepia Saturday. Well, here it is - for Sepia Saturday 224 (post your post on or around Saturday 19th April 2014) you can choose from gardens, gardening, watering cans, and men stood watching women do all the work. The title of this 1943 photograph, which appears on the US National Archives stream on Flickr, is "Frequent watering of the Victory Garden is necessary during the early stages of growth". You are, of course, able to interpret the theme image in any way you want : all you have to do is to post a post and link it to the list below.

Before you start planting any seeds of a post, you might want to take a look at what is to come in the next couple of weeks.

225 - 26 April 2014 : Music, jukeboxes, the 1950s.

226 - 3 May 2014 : May Day, Dancing, Folk Traditions, Silly Poses

But before all that music and dance, it is time to concentrate on the flower power. Plant those old pictures and see what posts blossom

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Why have one photograph when you can have a group of four? You are, of course, free to interpret this week's prompt photograph in whichever way you want, but one possible approach would be a grouping of four old photographs. There are other potential interpretations within this 1919 group of Smithton, Tasmania - indeed there are probably four times as many possible themes as normal. The original image comes from the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office collection on Flickr Commons. Whatever your interpretation, just post your post on or around Saturday 12 April 2014 and then link that post to the list below.

Before you go in search of your Sepia Quartet, spend a few moments looking ahead to the next couple of Sepia Saturdays.

224 - 19 April 2014 : Gardens, gardening, watering cans, and men stood watching women do all the work

225 - 26 April 2014 : Music, jukeboxes, the 1950s.

All that is for the future. For now, a little four thought will see you four warned.

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

Danger is an odd thing. In our moments of sanity we all steer well clear of danger, but in those moments of exuberant insanity, we sometimes search it out in order to experience the thrill of the challenge. Why else would you get people sky-diving or sailing blindfold across the Pacific Ocean or cultivating nettles? But one man or woman's danger is another man's relaxing lunchtime drink. Here is a photograph from the Dextra photostream on Flickr Commons which I would really like to tell you more about but I am constrained by my lack of - I suspect - Norwegian. Given the international flavour of the Sepia Brotherhood (Sisterhood), I am sure someone will let me have a translation of the Flickr description. It doesn't really matter because we are concerned with images rather than words and what this image says to me is danger. So your challenge this week is to somehow link an old photograph with the concept of danger (or anything else you can find in the picture) - and, as usual, the links may be as direct or as obtuse as you wish. Post the image on or around Saturday 5th April 2014, say a little about it, and then add a link to the list below. Now there is nothing dangerous about that, is there?

But before you go hanging from the top of a skyscraper wearing a sack over your head and carrying a live hand grenade, here is a quick preview of what you will be up against during the next couple of weeks in the event of you surviving your ordeal.

223 - 12 April 2014 : I was quite taken with the idea of a quartet of photographs displayed together, but you might want to focus on home town or hotels or main streets or even Tasmania

224 : 19 April 2014 : After my confessions in a recent Sepia Saturday post, I was challenged to have a prompt relating to gardening and all things flowery and vegetably. Here it is.

But to take part in those future challenges, you have to survive your brush with danger this week. So get out your bubble wrap suit, strap on your parachute, and drop in to Sepia Saturday 222.

Sepia Saturday

Launched by Alan Burnett and Kat Mortensen in 2009, Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind (they don't have to be sepia) become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images. If you want to play along, all we ask is that your sign up to the weekly Linky List, that you try to visit as many of the other participants as possible, and that you have fun.